"Money was not the big motive for Tiger"

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Yes and if you believe that, I have some land in Dubai for a golf...oh wait. Wrong joke.

Anyway, John Garrity offers a few gems in a Dubai-filed column. Writing about Al Ruwaya, home to the first Tiger Woods design... 
The golf course deal had been in the works for a couple of years, and local sources say that Sheikh Mohammed had to fend off a strong bid from Chinese interests, who were equally determined to land Tiger's first course design. ("Money was not the big motive for Tiger," says businessman and seven-time UAE golf champion Ismail Sharif. "There were other countries that would offer one more zero to get him.")
I guess I would tell myself that too if I was writing a check for $45 million.
Woods was coy when asked if he planned to spend much of his week in the desert, stepping off yardages and planting little red flags. ("I'll probably go out to the site and take a look.") His nascent design team, however, met with the Tatweer staff and got the ball rolling. Tiger's man on the ground was his childhood friend and high school teammate, Bryon Bell, who caddied for Woods on occasion before going to work at the Tiger Woods Foundation. Bell will reportedly manage Tiger Woods Design from an office in Orlando, Fla.

Tiger at Riviera?

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My interest in Tiger Woods playing at Riviera is purely selfish (it's pretty boring without him!).

Over at ESPN.com, the boys are debating their usual FACT or FICTION topics and they all say he's going to play.

Obviously, they don't remember that Tiger got caught in two hours of about the most hideous Friday afternoon traffic I've ever seen while battling the flu and Stevie's brilliant decision to leave the umbrella in the locker with a slim rain chance.

But in this suck up piece, Tim Rosaforte starts laying out all of the excuses for why Tiger's not playing, most of which the scribblers in San Diego were fed last week in the pre-planning for a likely no-show at Riviera.

Right now Tiger's playing with a three-club wind at his back -- but to quote Bob Seger, it's all about deadlines and commitments. After the Desert Classic, he's hanging around to check out his $25 million golf course project, and then jetting back to a short week in California after flying back through 12 time zones. What to leave in, what to leave out?

Hmmm, I don't know, the ones that don't pay big appearance fees?

Of course, while we're doing the whole Seger Against the Wind metaphor...

And I found myself alone
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
Found myself further and further from my home and I
Guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was livin to run and runnin to live
Never worried about payin or even how much I owe

Okay, well maybe not the part about how much he owes.

Tiger's Winning Percentage

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Golfobserver.com's Sal Johnson cooked up this stat on Tiger:

Highest winning percentage's on the PGA Tour:
Player     Percentage (wins / starts)
Tiger Woods     27.36% (55 out of 201)
Ben Hogan     20.7% (61 of 294)
Byron Nelson     17.8% (50 of 281)
Sam Snead     14.9% (81 of 549
Jack Nicklaus     12.2% (73 of 594)
Billy Casper     9.2% (51 of 556)
Arnold Palmer     8.4% (62 of 734)

The More Impressive Streak?

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If you are a bit turned off by the streak of PGA Tour PGA TOUR branded wins, this Tiger streak of no finish worse than 2nd as listed in today's L.A. Times is probably more impressive.

Since missing the cut at the U.S. Open last June, Tiger Woods has finished no worse than second in 12 stroke-play events, a streak that includes victories in his last seven PGA Tour tournaments:

Date    Tournament    Course    Site    Result
July 6-9, 2006    Cialis Western Open    Cog Hill    Lemont, Ill.    T-2*
July 20-23    British Open    Royal Liverpool    Hoylake, Eng    1*
Aug. 3-6    Buick Open    Warwick Hills    Grand Blanc, Mich.    1*
Aug. 17-20    PGA Championship    Medinah    Medinah, Ill.    1*
Aug. 24-27    Bridgestone Invitational    Firestone    Akron, Ohio    1*
Sept. 1-4    Deutsche Bk Champ.    TPC of Boston    Norton, Mass.    1*
Sept. 28-Oct. 1    American Exp Champ.    The Grove    Hertfordshire, Eng    1*
Nov. 9-12    HSBC Champions    Sheshan    Shanghai    2
Nov. 16-19    Dunlop Phoenix    Phoenix    Miyazaki, Japan    2
Nov. 21-22    PGA Grand Slam    Poipu Bay    Poipu, Hawaii    1
Dec. 14-17    Target World Challenge    Sherwood    Thousand Oaks    1
Jan. 25-28, 2007    Buick Invitational    Torrey Pines    La Jolla    1*
* PGA Tour Event

 

Not So Pat Question and Pat-hetic Answer

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Kudos to Peter Kostis for slipping in the "where will we see you next" question of Tiger in his post-final round Buick interview. Word has been quietly filtering out that he's likely not going to play at Riviera, and this was seemingly confirmed by Tiger's absurd answer about the long trip to Dubai and needing time to rest (though it did set up a nice zinger from Faldo about the trevails of traveling on a G5!).

Look Tiger, whether it's the traffic, the lousy weather, the poa greens, the lousy threadcount on the sheets at the Malibu beach house you rented, it doesn't matter. But don't claim fatigue with a week off after Dubai. You are more creative than that! 

But it also seems one of the writers (who!?) was pretty skeptical of Tiger's reasoning for likely skipping Riviera, and judging by the answer he received, the question hit a little too close to home...

 Q. If you don't play Nissan for whatever reason, if you're not ready or what-have-you, there will probably be some speculation like at East Lake where you're now at a point where you're trying to protect your streak, especially at a place like Riviera where you've never come close to winning; what would your answer be to that?

TIGER WOODS: People can say whatever they want. That's their opinion. They are entitled to it.

Open Letter To Tiger

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Golfweek has finally posted Brad Klein's open letter to Tiger, which is the column I wish I would have written had I had the courage to upset the game's most powerful figure!

 Will everything be there right in front of the golfer to see, as with Firestone? Or will you build in the quirky, odd and occasionally arbitrary (perhaps even unfair) element just to test a golfer's patience, as is the case at St. Andrews? In the past you've expressed admiration for both courses, yet their basic design styles are wildly divergent. Not that you need to resolve the tension or opt for one style over another.

 

As The Woods Camp Requested...

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File this Tim Rosaforte paragraph in the buried-lead file. He's writing about Tiger not appearing at Kapalua:

In truth, this could have been averted. Had the Target World Challenge been scheduled the week after Thanksgiving, as the Woods Camp requested, instead of two weeks from Christmas, it would have given Tiger almost a month of downtime before getting back to business at Kapalua. Instead, The Target was given Dec. 14-17, and Mercedes/Kapalua takes the hit.

Hmmmm...do we have a Commissioner-Tiger spat in the making here?

Tiger and The Commish

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Well the new year is off to a roaring start, as my NSA sources picked up this Monday night IM exchange between what appears to be Commissioner Tim Finchem and Tiger Woods, chatting on the eve of golf's new era commencing this Thursday at Kapalua.  

twfPGATOUR©: Tiger, is that you?

TWPrivacy:  who is this?

twfPGATOUR©: Commissioner Timothy B. Finchem

twfPGATOUR©: Tiger, you there?

TWPrivacy: how did you get this IM address?

twfPGATOUR©: Oh, uh, uh through Mark Steinberg.

TWPrivacy: sure you did. sup?

twfPGATOUR©: Just wanted to say hi from Kapalua where it's lovely. Thought I saw your preferred Citation X next to our Falcons but I guess it was just wishful thinking.

TWPrivacy: yep, spending time with my family in the mountains.

twfPGATOUR©: Well, wish you were here at Kap to see how the Ritz Carlton people have leveraged their brand. Inspiring how they have vertically and horizontally integrated their platforms to elevate the resort experience.

TWPrivacy: that's great tim

twfPGATOUR©: Anyway, I also wanted to congratulate you on the new project in Dubai.

TWPrivacy: thanks

twfPGATOUR©: Maybe you could talk the Sheiks into adding a First Tee facility with the project?

TWPrivacy: uh, i don't think there are many kids over there in need.

twfPGATOUR©: Yes, point taken.

twfPGATOUR©: You still there?

twfPGATOUR©: Hello?

TWPrivacy: yeah, just in the middle of something

twfPGATOUR©: Oh, Ric Clarson is here in our secure meeting operations center with me overlooking the bay. 

TWPrivacy: who?

twfPGATOUR©: I also wanted to congratulate you on Elin's pregnancy. It's wonderful that you'll be further platforming the Woods brand while finally conjoining with the PGA Tour's core values of family and charity.

twfPGATOUR©:  Tiger, you there?

TWPrivacy: yes tim. thanks on the pregnancy. elin says thanks too.

twfPGATOUR©: Is she there?

TWPrivacy: no, she's out skiing.

twfPGATOUR©: So our marketing people were wondering if you've decided how you are going about branding this?

TWPrivacy: what? having a kid?

twfPGATOUR©: Yes, how are you going to brand it. You know, how are you going name the child.

TWPrivacy: we haven't gotten that far tim.

twfPGATOUR©: Well we have a Vice Presidents here who specializes in name gentrification as well as all forms of cross platforming who I'm sure would be happy do a lot of post 5 o'clock brainstorming with your branding people, maybe even work up some metrics on how the various brands play out.

TWPrivacy: thanks tim, but we'll be okay.  is there something else?

twfPGATOUR©: Yes one last thing. What's the due date?

TWPrivacy: can't say

twfPGATOUR©: We're hearing July here, which of course is great because that will allow you to play in The PLAYERS.

TWPrivacy: yeah, i can't wait

twfPGATOUR©: I'm just wondering if you've thought about how much time you'll want to spend with the new baby in say, August and September when the PGA TOUR Playoffs begin?

TWPrivacy: probably a lot of time
TWPrivacy: tim, you there?
TWPrivacy: tim?

twfPGATOUR© signed off at 08:19:34 PM EST

Tiger's Absences

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This column ought to make Doug Ferguson's next encounter with Tiger at the Buick interesting...

So here's how it shakes out. Woods can either take two weeks off to ski and then practice for the Mercedes-Benz Championship, or he can take five weeks off and return at Torrey Pines to defend his title in the Buick Invitational.

Should he play? Yes.

Woods was largely responsible for PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem revamping the regular season to make it shorter and more compelling. And while the world's No. 1 player is singularly responsible for a $6 million purse considered routine, he needs the PGA Tour as a platform for his worldwide success.

In other words, it's time to give back.

Tiger And Mercedes, Vol. 2

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Tiger's latest non-denial denial on Kapalua:

Q. How much can we expect you to play this coming season? Can we expect to see you in the Mercedes? Can we expect to see you in all those events that are playoff events and leading up to it?

TIGER WOODS: Jerry, I'm going to play every event next year (laughter). I'm not taking any weeks off (laughter).

You know me, I'm going to sit back here in the next week and start playing out my entire schedule for next year. I wanted to get this tournament over and done with and get on vacation and enjoy skiing, having a great time, and then I'll get the entire itinerary for next year and start planning the schedule, what I need to do and when I need to do it.

Tiger And Mercedes

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In yesterday's Target press conference, The Golf Channel's Brian Hewitt asked Tiger Woods:

Q.  Any decisions yet or even leanings towards Mercedes and in early January?  I know you don't have to commit until the week before.

TIGER WOODS:  I haven't really looked forward to that.  I'm just looking forward to actually playing this event and then going skiing and just getting away and actually having some time off and then basically evaluate. 

Uh, that's 18 days away. Haven't really looked forward to that? That's Tigerspeak for "I'm not playing."